Using Models To Teach Science

Using models to teach science concepts helps students to understand and “experience” the big idea.  With technology changing daily, the opportunities to use computer models are endless.  In addition, the use of physical models allows the students to see science in action.  For my lesson on Earth’s movement, I chose to use a physical model to show the relationship between the Earth and Sun.  Demonstrating this relationship allows students to understand the cause of our days/nights, seasons and years.  For this activity, I used a light source in the middle of the room (lamp) to represent the sun and a globe representing Earth.  After turning all of the lights off in the room, except for the sun, students held the globe and demonstrated the rotation and revolution.  Students were able to see how days and nights happened as well as seasons and years.  One way that this lesson could be made more complex and higher order would be to give students a location, time of year and time of day to demonstrate.  This lesson was very successful in that students enjoyed it very much and were able to understand the concept.  The only problem I ran into was the amount of students.  Because it is summer, I did not have access to a class, so I was forced to use my own children and the other neighborhood children to teach.  This was not ideal, but went as well as can be expected.  It was very clear that seeing this concept helped the kids to gain a better understanding.

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters occur all over the globe.  In my area of the country, hurricanes and tornadoes are a common threat.  Many of my students have had experience of coping with the aftermath of a natural disaster.  The Hurricane season of 2004 was particularly difficult for central Florida, because we experienced 3 hurricanes within a very short time.  Even if students have not experienced a natural disaster, they can feel concern and a responsibility to help others, as a global citizen.  Because we live in an ever-shrinking world, what happens on one side of the planet can have a direct impact on citizens everywhere.  This effect may be financial, dealing with goods or personal considering the amount of mobility in the world today.  Having an understanding about types of natural disasters is important for all students.  One of the most important aspects of this type of lesson is creating a classroom environment where students not only learn about events of the past, but also keep current on events happening in real-time.  By staying connected, students become active participants in the global community.  Seeing need in the world and responding to it teaches students the benefit and rewards of service to others.  A great way to get students to help is to allow them to coordinate or plan a service project.  This will foster ownership or “buy in” on the part of students.  Examples of projects my students have participated in are selling the plastic bracelets to benefit tsunami victims and shoeboxes full of personal items for Hurricane Katrina victims.  The possibilities are endless and the benefits to students are immeasurable. 

Given the task to review types of presentation tools, I have decided to investigate Animoto and Prezentit.  Animoto is a tool that allows the user to create movie presentations with videos or still pictures.  There are graphics and  music available to add to the presentation. I found Animoto to be very user friendly.  Education accounts are available for Animoto.  For a small fee, you can subscribe to an account. According to a colleague that has done so, this opens up more music for use.   Prezentit is a tool that reminds me very much of powerpoint.  Like powerpoint, this tool allows the user to create a slide show of images or text, and add transitions.  I very much liked the background images available through the site.  This site seems very user friendly, pretty easy to use. 

Technolgy

Our world is shrinking due to rapid advancements in technology.  In order for students to be competitive, responsible, global citizens, they need to have an understanding about the latest technologies and how they can improve/change their lives.  As a teacher, I feel the need to incorporate technology in a meaningful way.  Students should be able to navigate the web to find information and solve problems.  The big idea that I have chosen is “What is Energy”?  After researching various websites, one clearly stood out.  The website I chose to share is http://www.eia.gov/ (U.S. Energy Information Administration).  This website has resources for students and teachers.  There are links that share an energy timeline, famous people, virtual field trips and more.  The site features a host called the “Energy Ant” that is pictured throughout and hosts the virtual field trips.  I found this site to have an abundance of energy information and resources that were organized in a visually appealing, fun fashion. 

Insulation

For this week’s application, I was testing the insulating ability of four different materials.  The materials I chose to test were a paper towel, terry cloth towel, aluminum foil and a drink koozie.  The material that I predicted would do the best job insulating was the koozie, because it was made of Neoprene.  I set up four identical mugs with exactly one cup of water at 113 degrees Fahrenheit.  I placed the testing materials over the top of the cups and secured with a rubber band.  After thirty minutes, I uncovered the mugs and took the temperature again.  My results showed that the koozie indeed kept the temperature warmer longer.  This activity would be a great activity to use with my sixth grade students.  Not only would they enjoy being able to decide on the materials used, but would also get the experience of designing a fair experiment and practicing their measurements skills. 

Newton Inquiry

The question I chose to investigate for this week's application was "How does the steepness of a slope and mass affect a collision outcome?"  To investigate this question, I set up a plank with two books underneath one end to create an incline.  I placed a car at the end of the ramp to serve as the target and also had a car that I released from the top of the ramp.  As a variable, I then raised the incline on the ramp by placing two more books under the raised end.  I continued on to six total books.  After collecting the data from this experiment, I returned to the original position of two books and started to add pennies, two at a time for each level of incline.  The results I found were that the higher the incline, plus the added mass created the biggest change in position of the target car.  The raise in the ramp created a situation in which gravity exerted force on the car and the added mass made that force even greater.  The aspects of this inquiry that gave me some trouble were keeping the car straight and keeping the pennies on the car.  In the future, it would be helpful to have a ramp with sides.  I do think this activity would be fun and engaging for my sixth graders.  Hands-on activites always help to teach/reinforce new concepts.  Gathering enough materials for an entire class would be my first challenge.  I might have to raid my son's toy box.  Secondly, grouping would be very important to consider with this activity.  Creating groups that would work well together and stay on task would be a top priority.  

Melting Icebergs

This week's blog post is a prediction about the outcome of a "confirmation inquiry" lab.  This lab, entitled "Melting Icebergs" is a simulation of ice melting in a completely full glass of water.  The ice obviously represents the icebergs melting due to global warming.  Although I have not yet performed the  inquiry, I can make some predictions about the outcome.  My initial thoughts, in connecting this lab to actual global warming, would be to assume that the water would overflow as the ice melted, thus causing "flooding".  After discussing this with my husband and son, I realized that water expands as it freezes.  Therefore, if the ice melts, it should take up less space as water than as ice.  My prediction is that the level of the water will decrease a small amount.